Cathabine a



(No Model.)

0. A. GRISWOLD.

CORSET.

No. 392,200. Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

WITNESSES INVENTOR M A TTORNEY N PETERS, Phohrlilhflgnpllen Washhlgton. D, C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OATHARINE A. GRISWOLD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CORSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,200, dated November 6, 1888.

- Application filed January 25, 1888. Serial No. 261,848. (No model.)

To all whomit may concern.-

Be it known that I, CATHARINE A. GRIS- aroma, of the city, county, and State of New York, a citizen of the United States, have invented an Improved Corset, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying draw-' ings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to corsets; and it consists in a corset provided with stays or stiffeners, each of which has an edgewise turn or reversal of direction and the extremities of which are widerthan the body of the stiffener, extending in a series from the top or bottom edge of the corset-body to or about the waist-line, and with their apices located at or along said waist-line, and with both the widened extremities of each said stiffen-er terminating at one and the same edge of said corset-body and there located contiguous to thesimilar extremities of the adjacent stiffeners of the series, as hereinafter described, and for the purpose specified.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a corset containing my invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan of a stiffener fabricated in conformity to my invention.

A represents the corset-body.

B B are steels, bones, stays or stiffeners, each of which, as shown in Fig. 2, has an edgcwise turn or reversal of direction, consisting, preferably, in a eurvated bend about midway of its length, and each of which has the extremities b, which are wider than the main portion or body of the stiffener. These widened extremities are preferably produced by forming the limbs of the stiffener with gradually-diverging side edges from a point about midway of the length of each to the end, as

shown in Fig. 2. These described stiffeners extend in a series along and from the top or bottom edge of the corset-body, and preferably in a series along and from both edges thereof, to substantially the waist-line,whereat the apices of the stiffeners of the one series may be located opposedly to the apices of the stiffeners of the other series. The widened extremities of the stiffeners located at the respective edges of the corset will reach or extend laterally along said edges, with their adjacent side edges or angles contiguous one to another, and in contact, or nearly so, where they terminate, thus giving a desirable degree of rigidity throughout the top and bottom edges of the corset, while at the same time said edges of the corset will possess flexibility flatwise at the points or places where the widened extremities of the stiffeners adjoin each other.

It is evident that the stiffcners B in .the described series may be allowed to extend somewhat beyond the waist-line of the corset, and that the apices thereof may be located alternately along said waistline, or may be permitted to overlap each other, in corresponding pairs of the series without material variation from the essential feature of the invention.

The described wide end edgewise-bentstiffeners may be seated in correspondingly-shaped pockets or folds constituted in and by the material of the corset-body itself by means of rows of stitching passing through the double thicknesses of the corset-body, as shown in the drawings, or they may be applied and secured to the surface of the corset-body in the form of overlays.

By means of my described nvention I am enabled to fabricate a corset which is specially adapted to fit satisfactorily to and upon the figures of stout or fleshy persons, the edges a the corset being throughout re-enforced or stiffened by the wide ends of the described stiffeners, thus maintaining throughout their extenta desirable rigidity, while the liability of the fracture of stays which extend continuously up and down the corset at the waistline, as is exceedingly liable to occur on stout persons, is avoided, at the same time that a free movement of the body is permitted. The contiguous extremities of the wide ends of the stays may be inclosed in the corset-edge binding a, as shown.

I do not claim herein, broadly, a corset-stay having wide ends or extremities,as I am aware that, broadly considered, such a stay is not new.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A corset provided with stays, each having an edgewise turn or reversal of direction,and with the extremities or ends of the limbs thus ICO formed widened, as described, said stays exthereat contiguous to the side edges of the tending in a series from the top or bottom similar ends of the adjacent stiffeners of the to edge of the corset-body to substantially the series, substantially as and for the purpose set waist-line thereof, and with their apiees loforth. 5 eated at said waist-line, and with the wid- I ened ends of each stiffener terminating at and extending laterally along one and the same ll edge of the corset, the side edges thereof being ()AilllAli-[NIC A. (HHSWOLI). \V i tnesses:

JonN J. Enms,

J'Anics Melx'rynn. 

